McIntosh will address these topics through an interactive lecture exploring her own identity, and will pose questions to the audience to spark critical thought and reflection. The following day, Feb. 5, McIntosh will present a workshop for Gonzaga staff and faculty from noon-1 p.m. in the Foley Center Teleconference Room.

“My hope is that everyone who attends these events will find meaningful support for living their own lives and for following their own deepest trains of thought,” said McIntosh, who also serves as associate director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women. “The modes of diversity are already in all of us, in our varied experience of everything that has ever deeply touched us. The psyche is plural, and can be our teacher.”

McIntosh has authored many influential articles on curriculum change, women’s studies and systems of unearned privilege. She is best known for authoring the (1988) article “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies.” This analysis and its shorter form, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (1989), have been instrumental in putting the dimension of privilege into discussions of gender, race and sexuality. The essay set forth the concept of white privilege, a theoretical construct that has since significantly influenced anti-racist theory and practice as well as other activist movements.

McIntosh is founder and co-director of the National S.E.E.D. (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Project on Inclusive Curriculum. She has taught English, American studies, and women’s studies at the Brearley School, Harvard University, Trinity College (Washington, D.C.), Durham University (England), and Wellesley College, among other schools. She directs the Gender, Race, and Inclusive Education Project, and is featured in the documentary, “Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible.” She is co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute (Colorado) and has been consulting editor to Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women. In addition to having two honorary degrees, she is a recipient of the Klingenstein Award for Distinguished Educational Leadership from Columbia Teachers College.

The lecture and workshop are presented by the Gonzaga Unity Multicultural Education Center and co-sponsored by the following Gonzaga entities: Chief Diversity Officer, Center for Global Engagement, Center for Teaching and Advising, Black Student Union, Gonzaga Student Body Association, Faith and Justice Series, Housing and Residence Life, Parent and Family Programs, and Human Resources.

For more information, please contact David H. Garcia with the Unity Multicultural Education Center, at (509) 313-4105 or via email.